This invention relates to fishing lure apparatus and more particularly to convertible harness structure capable of accommodating a plurality fishing lures and converting a casting lure to a spinner bait lure quickly and conveniently.
Individual casting lures and spinner bait lures are generally well known in the art, attention being directed to the several U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,832,768, issued to S.F. Davenport on Nov. 17, 1931; 3,546,804, issued to C.R. Woolums on Dec. 15, 1970; 3,750,325, issued to J.M. Feltman on Aug. 7, 1973; 3,808,726, issued to L.E. Flanagan, Jr. on May 7, 1974; 1,161,838, issued to D.D. Gapen on Jul. 24, 1979; 4,551,940, issued to D.S. East on Nov. 12, 1985; and 4,671,007, issued to W.G. Stanczyk on June 9, 1987. These patents teach or show single purpose lure arrangements including one or more spinner lures for fish attraction. These arrangements do not show, however, structure for quickly and conveniently converting between spinner baits and casting baits, in an easy and convenient method. In the structural arrangement of these aforedescribed patents, an integral shank and hook utilized in fish ensnarement is generally mounted at its shank end to an integral harness structure. Furthermore, the harness itself is often comparatively complex, being made from more than one wire body or a wire body which integrally incorporates the lure and/or hook including the spinner lure. Moreover, in some instances, the wire body is wound several times upon itself, creating an undesirable structural balance problem accomplished through a comparatively complex manufacturing step.
The present invention, recognizing these past structural problems and particularly those involved with the lure harness, provides a novel, convertible, integral harness structure which is straightforward and economical to manufacture and assemble, which requires a minimum of manufacturing and assembly steps and which requires a minimum of parts. In addition, the present invention provides an aligned, well balanced harness structure, which unique harness structure can be readily prepared or converted to various fishing lure arrangements prior to fishing, providing a novel structure for securely fastening and optimally disguising a preselectively offset shank and base portion of a fish ensnaring hook. Further, the present invention provides a novel harness structure which can be actuated and retrieved at varying speeds by a fisherman, the harness assembly offering a more natural appearance of spaced-apart and offset lures with a well-disguised, firmly assembled ensnaring hook.
Various other features of the present invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art upon reading the disclosure set forth herein.